Willehad Eilers' new series, Hold Your Horses, features four veiled riders holding their horses in an intense embrace. They cling to their horses as if trying to convince them not to start the ride, embodying a struggle to maintain control amid an eerie silence. The figures have distorted proportions, and the horses seem almost squeezed into the frame.

Symbols like the "pope rope" reference sect-like groups such as Heaven's Gate, whose members were handed fresh-out-of-the-box Nikes before succumbing to their fate—disturbing symbols of a belief in the afterlife intertwined with consumerism. Unlike the pristine sneakers of Heaven’s Gate, none of the riders is “fresh from the box”; they are deeply flawed, reflecting the imperfections of life itself as addiction to toxins provide a smoking reminder of the wear and tear life imposes on the body.

The color palette is deliberately raw, relying on primary colors—reds, yellows, and blues—to speak for themselves. Collectively, the pieces make a poignant statement: “hold your horses.” This phrase encourages us to calm down, to give up, to stop resisting, and to simply let things be.